Propaganda

Gentrify

Watsky

Kill a Hipster ft. Chinaka Hodge

NSFW

If you haven’t spun Bishop Dready Manning’s record from us yet, you’re really missing out. The guy’s got all the soul, personality and authenticity you’d want in a blues and gospel man. If you have been dropping your needle onto it and love what you hear, we just want to make sure none of you forget the great work Music Maker Relief Foundation—the group that put this stellar album out—does every single day.10% of all proceeds made from Manning’s album goes to the foundation but we hope your own contributions to their mission go beyond just that. At their core, the foundation is about preserving and delivering living history—namely, the voices of the people most responsible for keeping America’s musical bedrock alive. Lord knows, as each day just gets crazier, it’s good to anchor ourselves in our roots—those sorts of anchors are exactly what Music Maker want to get into your hands.

The nonprofit puts out a lot of great blues—if you liked Manning, make sure to check out some of their other great artists in this vein like Cora Mae Bryant and Jahue Rory—but it doesn’t stop with just that genre. Maybe you like your blues more plugged in, in which case you should give Ironing Board Sam and Robert Lee Coleman a listen. Or maybe you want some more outright gospel music—go for The Branchettes and The Glorifying Vines Sisters then. Or perhaps you’re after some legitimate Native American songcraft; they’ve got that too with Pura Fe and The Deer Clan Singers.

Their catalogue goes far deeper than any of those recommendations too. You could spend hours sampling and buying the music this nonprofit qua label puts out and still have a near endless reservoir to dip into. But then again, that’s sort of the beauty of the art Music Maker traffics in. The traditions they keep alive are the sort you just can’t get tired of. The blues may follow a pretty ironclad structure but it comes alive in new ways depending on who’s playing it.

The foundation actively seeks out these sorts of artists, long after many labels probably have an unspoken policy of ignoring them. Once it gets a hold of them, they make sure to promote their music and pay it forward too. They help them perform for people who don’t usually get to see live music, give their artist monthly stipends for food, medical care and housing, and provide free access to music and musical education to those who can’t afford it. Long story short: they’re an all-around national treasure.

So if you enjoyed this month’s record, consider showing your appreciation to the people who made it possible. There are a lot of ways to do so. You can donate directly to the foundation—maybe even set up a monthly recurring donation, if you really love what they do. Buying their beautiful records—inside and out—is another great way to help out with their work. They’re always on the lookout for volunteers too!

We hope you’re enjoying Bishop Dready Manning’s album enough to give back to these guys! They’re doing great work and we hope you think so too!

Maybe you’re as confused by Jay-Z’s new TIDAL PSA—uhhh, I mean album—as the rest of us. Perhaps you aren’t exactly salivating for a new release from EDM maestro extraordinaire Calvin Harris either. Well, as is often and fortunately the case, last week ended with a host of great releases that may have flown under your radar. I hope you like these new albums as much as I did.

Before we get started, let’s just state the obvious: if you haven’t listened to the new Fleet Foxes album, you should obviously do that before listening to any of these. It’s an easy candidate for album of the year. The new Lorde should be on your radar too, even if you aren’t into pop music. People like her, Carly Rae Jepsen, Grimes, etc. should be enough proof the future is female and that’s already meaning great things for the radio.

But no one should listen to only two new albums a week. You may have missed these five records and you really shouldn’t miss out on them.

Each Friday brings forth a bounty of new releases worth your time but it’s easy for some of the best records to fall through the cracks. It’s possible the big name stuff just isn’t doing it for you either. Maybe the comeback record from Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters does nothing for you beyond reminding you he’s still alive. Odds are at least a few of the attempted anthems on Bleachers’ new record may leave you underwhelmed and, let’s be honest, alt-J’s shtick is starting to get kind of old.

No matter what, we’re here to help.

Here are five records you may have missed from last Friday that you definitely shouldn’t sleep on….

Fall of 2009, Jason Heminger was shoveling manure in a horse barn in Colorado when he started writing music. This was unexpected for several reasons. For one, Heminger didn’t consider himself a musician. He had never written any songs before. He could play a few chords on the guitar, but he had never been especially interested in music.

For another, though he’d long been involved in different aspects of agriculture, he’d never taken much interest in horses, which he viewed as “sort of a useless animal in today’s modern agricultural age.”

But, not long before, Heminger’s “soul-sucking” job on the waterfront in Tacoma, Washington, had prompted a breakdown of sorts. He re-examined his life and priorities and realized something had to give. So he quit his job and moved his family to a little mountain town in Colorado.

I was trying to get in touch with my intuition, trying to get to know myself again—my emotional, physical, spiritual self,”

he explains. “And I couldn’t shake this inclination to learn about horses.”

In his typical fashion, Heminger soon dove full-force into learning about horses. He joined the rodeo association, called around to horse barns, and started working in stables in exchange for the expertise of local horse trainers. It was in the stables that the songs started showing up.

“In the course of a couple days while I was working, someone turned the faucet on,” he says. “I just started writing, hearing melodies.”

In less than a week, Heminger had written somewhere close to 10 songs, which he captured on a voice recorder to work out on his old Sears classic guitar. In a few months, he had almost two dozen songs.[Read more…]

While the primary purpose of vinyl is audio bliss for the ears, any human with a beating heart cannot deny the draw of luscious colored vinyl for the eyes. The visual beauty of vinyl is just as important to the complete listening experience. From the moment you open the cellophane to the instant the stylus hits the groove we feast our eyes on the stunning glossy vinyl.